Yes that's right: a RUG auction. A special monthly event just for people interested in buying rugs. Now you may not realize (as I had no idea before coming out here) that Navajo hand-woven rugs are apparently world-renowned. Some of the weave is so tight that they're practically waterproof. Now rug is a loose term, because you may not want to use something the size of a bathmat as an actual bathmat when it cost you $300+. Larger ones big enough to actually fill a living room floor are going for thousands.
Anyway I drove up to Crownpoint Elementary School for the rug auction. It was way more entertaining than expected. Hilarious in fact.
Some more background: No Navajos are actually buying rugs. I don't think there was one minority member in the whole bidding group. The average age of the bidders was about 70. I was definitely the youngest person there. Also if you get there early you get to actually see the rugs up close. While I looked at them and thought some were pretty and some not so much to my taste, other obviously serious old-timers were pawing through them and making sweeping comments about the value (or usually the lack thereof) of the rugs based on the artist, the pattern, or who knows what other mysterious qualities a proper Navajo rug must possess to be collector-worthy. I heard that some of the people are rug dealers from Santa Fe.
Finally after much anticipation and some Navajo tacos, the bidding began. The best part was that the auctioneers were 2 60-something year-old white cowboys. They were wearing their cowboy hats and boots and speaking with an authentic southern drawl. The bidding also went on in this almost unintelligible 90-mile-per-hour auction language, but was occasionally slowed and punctuated by comments by one or the other of the cowboys that began with "looky there," "man alive," and "I'll be darned" ... followed by "that's a real nice rug," or "that's a pretty little rug," at which point I sometimes had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. And I'm from Texas.
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